Messiah the cat gets credit card with $4000 limit

MESSIAH Campbell was considered a good enough credit risk to be given a card with a $4200 limit - which was surprising, considering he's a cat.

His Melbourne owner Katherine Campbell wanted to test the limits of her bank's identity screening process and applied for the Visa credit card on Messiah's behalf.

She was amazed when it was approved.

"I just couldn't believe it," she said yesterday. "People need to be aware of this and banks need to have better security."

Ms Campbell applied for Messiah's credit card through the Bank of Queensland two weeks ago.

She already had a credit card with the bank and wanted to see whether a second card for the same account would be approved for Messiah.

She filled out an additional credit card application form in Messiah's name, including his address and age, and sent it to the bank.

Ms Campbell said the bank requested identification from Messiah but days later sent him a credit card without receiving any proof of identification.

Ms Campbell said the envelope containing her cat's credit card, the letter inside and the credit card itself were all addressed to Messiah Campbell.

To make matters worse, Ms Campbell – as the primary credit card holder – said she was not notified that a secondary credit card attached to her account had been issued.

Ms Campbell said she was shocked by how simple it was to bluff the bank's security system.

"It's a bit scary and it's a big problem," she said. "It was very easy to do and I'm not even a professional crook."

A Bank of Queensland spokeswoman said the credit card had been issued to the cat in error.

"We have investigated the issue and it appears the bank has made an error," she said. "We apologise as this should not have happened."

Although the bank will not be taking legal action against Ms Campbell, the spokeswoman said the person signing the application form should not give misleading or fraudulent information.

"It is also important to remember that for an application to be approved, the customer must sign to confirm the information they have given is true and is not misleading or fraudulent," she said.

Messiah's credit card has since been cancelled but his credit status doesn't stop there.

Ms Campbell again challenged security measures when she applied for her cat to be a secondary account holder on her electricity bill.

The ploy worked and Messiah's name was added to Ms Campbell's Red Energy electricity bills.

A Red Energy spokeswoman said no responsibility rested with the secondary card holder and there was no problem with having a pet's name on a customer's electricity bill.

"We never intended for people to sign up their pets as secondary account holders but we respect our customers' wishes," she said. "However, we doubt that their pets will be able to take full advantage of the service."